The Power Of Technology To Bring Positive Change
The Scoop asked a handful of big thinkers to describe the transformative power of technology. Give these thought leaders a read. Some of the challenges they highlight or questions they raise may get you on your own soapbox about how to do things differently. You can find these authors on Substack and Twitter to continue the dialogue.
Human needs and wants are relatively stable over time - farmers are no different. As I think about product innovation and technological advances, I tend to think that the most durable product strategy is by focusing on the things that are not changing versus the latest trend or the short term opportunities, therefore innovations and advancements are more likely to stand the test of time. In agriculture, there’s an incredible opportunity to build products that farmers and the industry will definitely want (or need) in the future. As we think about what technical developments will propel agriculture forward (broadacre row crop), what will NOT change can be an interesting framework, instead of the latest buzzword or trend.
Our desire for others to understand our point of view & context, and act accordingly will NOT change
Most agronomic decisions in farming are local and contextual at the farm level. Additional sensors, data, and models will continue to enrich the contextual understanding on a given farm.
The availability of better remote sensing data combined with on the ground sensors, including on equipment will power better machine learning and artificial intelligence models. It will provide a richer context to agronomists, advisors, and farmers to make better decisions.
There is always something more that the farmer, or an agronomist who has worked with the farmer knows, which a model or data cannot capture. Technology and tools will complement the farmer and/or agronomist’s context and intuition, with rigor and scientific method to create the most value.
Our desire for simple, intuitive experiences, and quick time to value will NOT change
One of the main barriers to adoption of AgTech is poor user experience and time to value.
Future solutions will have to significantly reduce the barriers to engage. Technology and solutions will have to provide new modes of interaction and engagement, including voice, text, and other mechanisms, to reduce the effort onboard, and time to find value.
Our desire to do more with less will NOT change
Climate change and rising input prices will propel technologies like precision inputs and tailored solutions, enabled by better understanding of the context. Diminishing computing, storage & sensor costs, 5G connectivity will help to get more out of less, optimize along multiple dimensions instead of yield only, and automate many operations.
Overall, I am a tech-optimist. I strongly believe in the power of technology to bring positive change to food and agriculture systems. What do you think?
--- Rhishi Pethe is head of product at Mineral at X. X is Alphabet’s moonshot factory, with the mission of inventing and launching breakthrough technologies to help tackle some of the world’s hardest problems, including agriculture. Mineral is X’s sustainable agriculture project leveraging computational agriculture to scale the adoption of sustainable and regenerative farming to mitigate the climate impact of the global food system. Rhishi is also the creator of the free weekly newsletter “Software is Feeding the World '' focused on technology trends in food and agriculture.
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